America, Don’t Close Doors on Immigrants

A group of eight senators, equally split among the two parties, propose reforms to immigration law. These laws would allow people who came to the US illegally or were not recorded as residents, a chance to become citizens.

A group of eight senators, equally split among the two parties, propose reforms to immigration law. These laws would allow people who came to the US illegally or were not recorded as residents, a chance to become citizens.

Other changes could raise the bar on the skill levels necessary for people to be given work visas. Further restrictions on immigration could be imposed. This is not reform, but regress. The US should not embrace them. America became the great nation it is by absorbing millions of people from all over the world.

As people poured in, so did the talents, skills and capacity for work that they possessed. Europeans driven from their homes by war or famine came to America, as did people from south of the border and later from all over the world.

Albert Einstein was born in Ulm, Germany, but settled down in Princeton, New Jersey, in 1933. So did a host of brilliant scientists who helped the US develop the world's first nuclear bomb. Clearly, America's open-door policy has helped the nation more than anyone else.

It would be foolish to reverse that today. The political push for tougher immigration law is easy to understand: in the aftermath of the most severe recession in recent history, protectionist pressures are bound to pile up.

Yet, America would be wiser by ignoring such pressures. Already, there are signs of a revival in the US. American manufacturing companies, like GE, which used to make some products overseas, have discovered that they can make the same things better, as well as cheaper, in the US.

This shows that American productivity is not under threat from any nation. The US should keep its doors open and abide by the principles of liberalism and openness that are carved into the base of the Statue of Liberty. Sure, these help others, but they help America the most.